Our musical journey continued today with our arrival in Memphis, the home of blues & soul.
When we left Nashville this morning, it was raining. It wasn't too heavy until we got out onto the freeway. It started to pour down and it was foggy which made visibility very low. We were traveling through some small mountains but it didn't last too long. It rained on & off the whole way to Memphis.
Once we hit the outskirts, we found a coin laundry as neither of us had any clean clothes. It was in a low socioeconomic area with small rundown houses & graffiti on shop walls. I felt for the women in there who were washing sheets & doonas as well as clothes. We are so fortunate.
When we got going again, we came across leafy, tree lined streets & beautiful homes only 2 blocks away.
Our hotel is lovely. It is across the road from the Mississippi River which we can see from the window. There was a man playing the piano in the foyer when we came back tonight & a small carafe of port & 2 Lindt balls had been left in the room.
After checking in, we headed for downtown & The Peabody Hotel. We found a parking station with easy access to both Peabody Place & Beale St.
We wanted to see the march of The Peabody Ducks at 5pm. There are 5 Peabody Ducks who march down from their Duck Palace on the hotel roof, to the fountain in the lobby at 11am each day & then march from the fountain, down the red carpet to the elevator to return to the Duck Palace at 5pm each day.
The ducks in the fountain came about in the 1930s when the general manager of The Peabody & his friend returned from a hunting trip having consumed a bit too much Jack Daniels & decided to put their live duck decoys into the fountain overnight. They proved to be a hit with the guests so they stayed there. In 1940, a bellman by the name of Edward Pembroke offered to train the ducks to march. He had previously been a circus animal trainer. The general manager was skeptical but gave him a chance to prove he could do it. He did it so there have been marching ducks since then.
The ducks are raised on a local farm & only spend 3mths at the hotel before being taken back to the farm to live as wild ducks.
There was quite a crowd when we got there. All the best vantage points were full but we snuck into the lounge area & got a spot on the side. It is quite a big hooha with the history given before the music starts & the duck master accompanies the ducks into the lift. It is all over in a couple of minutes. We weren't allowed to go up to the Duck Palace today because of the weather.
When we left The Peabody, we headed for Beale St. This street is significant in the history of the blues as it is where black musicians started busking in the 1860s. Today it is several blocks of blues clubs, shops & restaurants. The street is a pedestrian mall where many of the clubs have 'take out' drinks so you can walk along with a cocktail or beer. I can imagine that is would be pumping on a weekend but on a wet Monday night, there weren't too many people out. But, that didn't stop music from being played. After walking up & down, we decided to go into one place for a drink before dinner. We had a Beale St special called a 'Walk you Down' which the barmaid described as a 'spiked up lemonade'. It was blue from blue curaçao but I don't know what else it had in it. It was nice enough for us to go back for a second one. About 6.30pm a band started to set up. They got going about 7pm & played Tennessee blues. We stayed for about half an hour before being hungry enough to go.
As we were leaving Nashville this morning, one of the valets told us we had to have BBQ while in Memphis & recommended Rendezvous as being the best. The guy in the hotel here also recommended one but we couldn't remember the name. We couldn't find Rendezvous so we asked in a souvenir shop. They are closed on Mondays.
We went to a place called Pig with Attitude as they had lots of awards in the window. I don't like pork but this was ok. It was pulled pork with coleslaw & corn. There was a spicy sauce to cover it in so it didn't taste like pork. At least we can say we have tried BBQ. I think we are supposed to have ribs though for the true experience. Maybe we will go to Rendezvous tomorrow night.
It would have been nice to stop & listen to more live blues but we were quite wet from walking the streets so we headed back to the hotel. We need to be out relatively early in the morning for our Graceland tour!